Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-17
POWDER IRE.
He Gives Somebody a Most Terrific aud
Caustic Lanbasting

He Gives Somebody a Most Terrific aud
Caustic Lanbasting
! PHILADELPHIA, PA March tl3.-In re-
ply to attacks of Knights of Labor who
have denounced the recent purchase of
! headquarters for the order in Philadelphia,
at a cost of $4,000, General Master
| Workman PoWderly has issued circular
! to the various assemblies of the order, in,
which he says:
eff l were working for a CoTporation,1
would have resigned long since, on'ac-
count of overwOrk, regardless of what the
| salary might be, and If even the slightest
part of the abuse and insult was offered
me that has been offered me, nay, heaped
| upon me, by members of the order, l
would quit in disgust. l am not work
ing for the grumblers and fault
! finders; | am not Iaboring for the mali
Cious FasCalS who rush into print with
every grievance against the general
| officers; am not working for the car
rows who sit on the fence and never at
J tack living issue, but wait until they
feel that some one else has killed their
! prey, and then pOunCe on It's carcass
| only to gorge themselves with filth, create
| 8 stencil and drive all decent birds away
! from their ilI-smelling work. am
working for the men and women
/ Of this order who believe in its
principles, and who honestly and fear
| lesslv work to put them IN practice. l
would not use such language as this did
/ | not see the mean, malicious, false and
cowardly attacks which, inspired by de-
| signing knaves, have been made upon the
general officers. 1 would not stop in the
! - ,,oE-o nj hoe mot
! the papers-publshed by members OF the
order-stooped to be throwing Off dirt
and falsehOod, in the doing of which they
violated their pledge of Knighthood, as
we'll as every principle of honor and
manhood.
! "The general executive board, under
the resolution passed at Richmond, made
arrangements TO purchase q suitable
headquarters for the order. They did
not act hastily, but made careful inquiry
as 10 where property would be likely to
| sell the best, in case it became necessary
to sell again. The property of Mrs. Baird,
| on Broad street, Philadelphia, was offered
for sale We investigated carefully and
found that it Wassfrst-class property and
worth $50, 900. The house, barn, out
buildings and lot cost $4,000 cash; ;
by discreet management it was OBJ
tanned for $4,000, $4,000 less than the
sum the General Assembly voted for the
purchase of q suitable place. Since we
removed. the headquarters to that building
we have been offered 1000 more than
we gave for It by one party and ZOO
by another. The charge made that 'the
general executive board had squandered
the funds of the order in reckless pur-
lchase of d palace among capitalists, ma
tbObs,' etc is silly when 1t appears in a
! paper published IN the interest
of capital, but when a labor
paper plays parrot and picks
up such cry and repeats it before ascer-
tanning whether it as true or false, it be-
comes criminal. When committee OF
wOrkingmen come to Philadelphia to-day
they will find a welcome, and if they must
wait until another committee transacts its
business with the general officers, they
can sit down on plush covered chairs,
richly upholstered and very easy to sit in,
and if there is q class of men who can en-
10y and ought to have a good easy place
to sit down it is the working class.
"The silly talk of Workingmen wearing
overalls and grimY faces at all times
should be discouraged. Who has bet
ter right to eLjOy the good things of this
earth than the man whose hand and skill
created these things? ask that where
an editor of paper who has published
an attack on the general executive
board for the purchase OF the
headquarters belong TO the order, he be
allowed to appoint an Investigating COM
mittee to examine the Philadelphia prop.
erty, and if he finds that have made g
misstatement he Beed not retraCt what
he has published. If he finds he was
wrong he must retraCt or be expelled
from the order. The assemblies to
which these men belong should &C!
promptly in the mqtter.
'fIf the order does not want the pro
peIty which it commanded It's general ex
cCutive board to purchase, future board
can sell it and realize more than your
present board has paid for it. In the mean
time the landlord has no terrors for your
I general officers. | have, for once, taken
up your time in responding to the attack
3 the malicious. In conclusion, let me
! ! S y that my name and reputation are
! wOrth more to me than 6ll the dollars thai
? We Il 1wn into The Golfers OF the order
l and when | turn NY Office over to ny
! successor, l will do so with clean hands
2 aud in such a way as to give satisfaction
to the honest men of the order. l expect
my colleagues to do the same. If dc
! not happen to please the rasCais who have
gained admission 10 the order, I VII bt
well pleased. l do not want their goot
will and care nothing tor their i'll will
That which would please them most, an(
that which they have requested Of m'
through another association, would bt
my resignation as General Master Work
man"